The Safety Culture of an Effective Nuclear Regulatory Body

The fundamental objective of all nuclear safety regulatory bodies is to ensure that activities related to the peaceful use of nuclear energy are carried out in a safe manner within their respective countries. In order to effectively achieve this objective, the nuclear regulatory body requires specific characteristics, one of which is a healthy safety culture.

The Safety Culture of an Effective Regulatory Body, commonly known as the NEA Green Booklet, describes five principles that support the safety culture of an effective nuclear regulatory body. These principles concern leadership for safety, individual responsibility and accountability, co-operation and open communication, a holistic approach, and continuous improvement, learning and self-assessment.

The report also addresses some of the challenges to a regulatory body's safety culture that must be recognised, understood and overcome. It provides a unique resource to countries with existing, mature regulators and can be used for benchmarking as well as for training and developing staff. It will also be useful for new entrant countries in the process of developing and maintaining an effective nuclear safety regulator.